Georgia’s Eurovision entry rejected

Georgia’s entry to this year’s Eurovision song contest, We Don’t Wanna Put In, has been rejected for breaching the competition’s rules on political statements. Sensitivities are running high as the contest will be held in Moscow and follows the war between the two countries in August last year over the separatist region of South Ossetia.

The European Broadcasting Union announced today that it had told the Georgian public broadcaster it could re-write the lyrics, which plays on the name of the Russian President Vladminir Putin, or select another song. The deadline to re-submit the song is next Monday (16 March). According to the rules, “no lyrics, speeches, gestures of a political or similar nature shall be permitted during the Eurovision Song Contest”.

The song contest will take place on 12, 14 and 16 May.

Russia’s entry, entitled Mamo and selected at the weekend, has also caused controversy, but for very different reasons. It was written by a Georgian and is sung by a Ukrainian singer, Anastasia Prikhodko, with some of the lyrics in her native language. The song’s selection prompted an angry reaction from some Russian fans.